Clark County School District announces rankings of top


Clark County School District announces rankings of top and lowest performing elementary, middle schoolsClark County Superintendent Dwight Jones, left, receives a tour of Bonner Elementary School from Principal Paul Catania, Thursday Feb. 23, 2012. Bonner Ryan Clady Jersey was identified as the top school in the Clark County School District under a new ranking system unveiled Thursday.


By Paul Takahashi


Published Thursday, Feb.


Updated Thursday, Feb.


Find out how your school ranks Check out an interactive list that shows all of the school rankings here.


Ranking system implemented for public schools


KSNV coverage of Womens Von Miller Jersey Clark County School District imposing a school ranking system to help parents determine where schools stand, Feb. 23, 2012.


John W. Bonner Elementary School in the west valley is the top ranked school among the district's 217 elementary schools and 59 middle schools, according to rankings released this morning.


"This is about learning," said Clark County Schools Superintendent Dwight Jones, who announced the rankings in Authentic Ryan Clady Jersey an appearance to congratulate staff and students at Bonner Elementary. "This isn't designed to punish or call (low performing schools) bad names."


Nevertheless, Jones said he expected Authentic Von Miller Jersey improvements from low performing schools.


"If schools can't get better, we should look at all options to turn that school around," Jones said. "Every child should have the opportunity to attend a high quality school."


The new ranking system called the School Performance Framework has been in the works since the beginning of the school year. In October, the district unveiled a preliminary school rankings model that measured 30 schools' academic achievement and operational efficiency.


While the elementary and middle school rankings were released today, a School District spokeswoman said high school rankings weren't expected to be released until April.


With today's announcement, Clark County becomes the first school district in Nevada to institute a school ranking system. Las Vegas follows other major urban school districts with school rankings: New York City, Los Angeles, Denver and Miami.


Gov. Brian Sandoval applauded the new rankings in Clark County.


"I congratulate Superintendent Dwight Jones Von Miller Jersey and the CCSD Board of Trustees for taking this significant step forward," Sandoval said in a prepared statement. "The School Performance Framework will provide parents with important information about their child's education and hold educators, administrators and the public accountable. I applaud the state's largest school district for implementing this level of transparency and I look forward to continuing to work with stakeholders to improve our state's education system."


Under the new system, Clark County schools are each assigned a numerical score out of 100 points, based on how they did on number of categories, such as academic performance, student growth and school climate.


About 80 percent of the numerical score is based on a school's academic performance: improvement on test scores, the percentage of students who are proficient and if the school is closing the achievement gap between its top and lowest performing students.


The rest of the score is based on school climate, factors such as average daily student attendance, performance of English Language Learner and special education students Womens Ryan Clady Jersey and the number of students in accelerated classes.


Other factors such as a school's fiscal health, safety record and parent involvement also were considered earlier in the rankings' development. The School District may decide to include those factors as they tweak and improve the system.